Tangent to a Line
by moonmagicks
Summary: Kanone's on the run because of a secret he can't bear to hear. Eyes gives chase. How the hell is Hiyono involved? eventual KanoHiyo; a take on how the storyline could have gone, but didn't. spoilers for chapter 30-onward.
1. Two Lines

_Tangent to a Line_

- - -

I I **[** c h a p t e r . o n e **]** I I

- - -

moonmagicks

AU; Kanone's on the run because of a secret he can't bear to hear. Eyes gives chase. How the hell is Hiyono involved?

starring: Yuizaki Hiyono, Hilbert Kanone, Eyes Rutherford

- - -

No way.

No way.

Impossible.

There is no way Hizumi could have said what he just said. There is no way this can be the truth. Hizumi's mouth is moving; it's talking and sneering and downright laughing at Kanone shamelessly. It is the truth. It is the truth because it is the only way everything can make sense. It is the only way. Hizumi's not stupid (despite whatever he does) and he knows Kanone knows what two plus two is.

Kiyotaka wants him to die.

No; Kiyotaka wants him to die.

No, no; God wants him to die.

Kanone is not one to believe in God (cross on his neck or not) and it used to be that nothing but skill would hold weight in his eyes. After all, Evangeline Hilbert had taught him nothing if it weren't for the survival of the fittest. But that man; that one smiling, seemingly-stupid, completely-insipid man--he had blown his world away. And Kanone had seen God. kanone had seen the power the light, the raw feeling and absolutism that one can't help but feel when near Kiyotaka.

And now, now?

Hizumi, the devil, lies in front of him.

For every coin, their must be a "heads" and their must be a "tails". There must be a darkness for every light. A wrong, persay, for every right. Hizumi speaks the truth, that is the truth right now. But Kanone will never acknowledge that what he's saying is right.

God wants his life taken.

But God does not want his life to end by normal means. He wants the weak-ass devil to take his life.

God is absolute.

The string (ropes, chains, red threads) that holds the cross tightens against his throat. God has given the Devil a gun. God has given the Devil one of his guns.

Kanone, for all the soppy shows he's seen, does not see his life flash in front of his eyes. He only sees snippets of moments, careless, dry moments that he didn't know he had taken the time to remember. Evangeline is cutting flowers with bullets. Eyes is playing one song after another. Ayumu mindlessly fingering the keys. None of them are "Bénédiction de Dieu dans le Sólitude". A cat scampers across the street; he manages to save it. Kousuke is getting punched in the face by Ryouko. Rio's face as he's _just_ about to kill her. Hiyono's unconscious form leaned against his arm.

This is life--this is what it's all come down to.

The guns and violence and bloodshed and sacrifice.

The tears and whimpers and forsaken dreams.

God says he must die.

God wants him to die.

The Devil--Hizumi is smiling at him. His gun is in his grasp.

No.

In one swift movement, Kanone sprints forward. Hizumi is taken by surprise (or at least that's what his face says) and he manages to wrench the gun out of the other boy's hand. This is the Devil, only Ayumu-otouto can kill him.

A bang. A bullet. Blood seeps out of a teenaged head.

Hizumi doesn't even blink.

"People have been doing that to me ever since I was a kid," he yawns and stretches, as if a hold through his head is nothing to be concerned about. Kanone would be disconcerted, but he's mad. God and Devil have taken away everything--his freedom, his bullets, his cats; now they want his life? Ridiculous. He is a fighter and for that, he will fight until the end. Maybe he won't be able to kill Hizumi (that is Ayumu-otouto's "job" after all), but Kanone has no doubt he'll be able to inflict some form of damage or another on the Devil.

Hell's fires lick at his heels but he pays them no heed.

- - -

"What do you mean he's gone?" Kirie demands into the cellphone. Eyes raises an eyebrow; this must be serious--she's even taken the ever-present cigarette out of her mouth. "I thought we had the state of the art security in his room! Didn't the guards or cameras catch anything at all?" A pause. A hurried voice could be heard muttering rapidly on the other end. "Oh my God," her eyes widen and the cigarette drops to the floor, forgotten. "Yes, he's here. We'll be over immediately."

The phone snaps shut and Kirie smoothly puts it in her purse.

Eyes' patience is rewarded during the rapid walk towards the car.

"I've just got news that Hizumi had a meeting with Kanone," she doesn't fumble with the keys, but she presses the wrong button--twice, "it seems like he tried to kill him."

"Who tried to kill who?" the back of his throat is clenching as he remembers their last conversation. Kanone looked perfectly happy and healthy... If Hizumi--

"Hizumi tried to kill Kanone. But apparently," Kirie motions for him to get in; he complies, the engine starts up with a roar. She keeps her eyes on the road but grips the wheel a bit tighter as she continues. "Kanone quickly got the upper hand and attempted to kill Hizumi."

If Eyes were Rio, he would've probably guffawed, or at very least choked on his own spit. But instead, his eyes simply widened at the pure ridiculousness of the action. But then again, it was Kanone after all. He swallows; a question--he needs to know the answer.

Kirie knows him too well.

"Hizumi's alright. It's Kanone that's the real concern..."

His breathe hitches. Damn.

"What happened to Kanone?" He prays, begs, pleads to a God he does not believe in (Kiyotaka may be God, but Eyes will never refer to him as one...) that his best friend and brother is in stable condition. But it doesn't matter, because neither God nor Kiyotaka listen. (Are they the same person?)

"The agent says that Kanone's run away after inflicting a large amount of damage on Hizumi."

"...what?"

It's funny--God and Kiyotaka have the same sense of humor.

- - -

"Ick," Hiyono wrinkles her nose at the scene, "Well this is rather gruesome, isn't it?" Once again, hacking and "special" permission allow all the doors in the world to open for Narumi-san and herself. Narumi-san is regarding the scene as calmly as usual (she swears that he's becoming more and more like his older brother everyday; she hates them both for it), as if this were all a portion of his calculations and schemes.

She hopes not.

"Well, what else can we expect from Kanone Hilbert, neh?" is his reply. She tries not to roll her eyes or barf at the sight. Hizumi's eyes are blinking and whole situation freaks her out.

House arrest.

Such a quaint term for a such boring activity; she could -almost- understand Kanone's motivation for trying to kill Hizumi in such a gory manner. If she was locked in a home with only two visitors for two hours everday, she'd probably go crazy too. But even granted that, Hiyono highly doubted the carnage of her work would to amount to something like...this.

Hizumi's head has three bullet holes, but all of them are in the cranium and nowhere near his eyes. His eyes are simply blinking, and his mouth is moving, almost in a smile. She shudders to think that anyone could be smiling with their body in such an improbable and disgusting manner. Half of his arm is brutally torn off, carelessly flung onto the opposite side of the room. His clothes, needless to say, are completely bloodstained, and the carpet is as well. A broken vase lies in pieces around his matted, bloody golden hair.

In short: it looks like a horror movie gone right.

And through it all, she can see the perfectly-white teeth and the cheeky angelic grin.

The hand that has not been torn off lifts itself off the ground. It waves at Narumi-san and her.

She can't help but recoil; it is foolish.

"So-orry!" the voice quakes out, "I'm all bloody and ugly to see-ee! I'm sure Ojou-cha-an is dis-gusted with me ri-ight now!" Hizumi finishes cheerily, allowing his arm to flop back down. The smile still remains, and all of a sudden, she gets the urge to bolt out of the room.

Stupid, she chides herself. She's been the witness to much more horrific crimes. She has been accepting of people who have done worse than this. She will be able to shrug it off and go to sleep and pretend to be a normal teenager once again.

Hizumi opens his mouth to speak once more.

"Kiyotaka said that I could kill him," he grins; the bullet holes stretch, "he gave me this so I could finish him off." With great difficulty, the boy on the ground manuevers his unharmed hand, reaching for a weapon a couple feet away. His fingers fall a couple inches short of reaching their target.

"Kanone's gun," Rutherford-san interrupts, a stone-hard expression pasted over his already-stoic features. He steps through the door calmly and were it not for his snatching of the fallen weapon, Hiyono would have thought him to be completely unaffected.

"Heh heh heh..." Hizumi chuckles darkly as his eyes close, "I'm rather ti-ired."

There is a pregnant pause; they don't know what to do. Thankfully, Kirie does.

"Alright everyone, clean up the room and get him to a hospital immediately!" in a swirl of movements and hurried goings, Kirie managed to get everyone moving. Within minutes, Hizumi's body (sans left arm) is loaded into an ambulance and the four of them are standing solemnly where his body was laid moments ago.

Rutherford-san turns around to head out of the room, Kirie whips out her hand, grabbing his arm, "Where do you plan on going?" she demands to know.

The look Rutherford-san has is something Hiyono hasn't ever seen.

"I'm going to find Kanone. This is not normal, and if you continue to treat it as so--" his fist smashes into the wall. There's a crater the size of a skull, and his hand is not bleeding at all. Kirie takes a step back, but she doesn't quite release her grip.

"Ruth-kun, you must think rationally--" she begins.

"No, he's right," Ayumu interjects softly. Everyone turns to look at him in surprise. "I'm sorry, it was mostly my fault. I thought Onii-sama was going to have Kanone be killed. But I guess I don't know my own brother that well either..." he laughs bitterly, "I'll come with you Rutherford, the backup would be nice."

"Are you crazy?" Kirie demands. Hiyono thinks that it's funny how odd she looks without a cigarette in her mouth. "Ruth-kun, you have to understand that this is all part of Kiyotaka's master plan! Ayumu, I expected that minimum of you! And besides, when you're gone, who will be there to maintain order within the Blade Children? Think things through first."

"Rescuing Kanone comes first," Eyes replied steadily.

"Rescuing him?" Kirie nearly-screams, "Rescuing him from what? He's the one that tried to kill Hizumi as miserably as possible. He's the one that ran away."

"Precisely," Ayumu says, "Why would Kanone run away? Why would Hizumi provoke him? Why would Kanone try to kill Hizumi in the first place?"

"Oh, that's an easy one; it's because you," Kirie points an accusing finger at Ayumu, "--are not doing your job of killing him!"

"There must be a better solution than that," Ayumu persists.

"Fine!" Kirie lights up another smoke, "Go off chasing after Kanone. It is not my job to make sure that all the Blade Children don't cause havoc. It is not my job to make sure that you stay alive. It's not even my job to assure them that Hizumi is going to be killed," she inhales heavily, blowing a smoke ring off to the side.

"I'll go in his stead," Hiyono volunteers. Now, the attention is turned on her.

"What are you talking about you stupid girl..." Ayumu complains, "Don't be--"

"It's not stupid, Narumi-san," Hiyono replies testily, "I can go with Rutherford-san to look for Kanone while you stay here and keep the peace."

"How ridiculous!" Kirie argues, "You can't possibly allow her to--"

"I think that's a rational plan," Eyes says flatly. All thoughts of discussion and argumentation are dropped then and there. Hiyono smiles widely as Ayumu's displeasure.

"It would be ideal to get your bags and meet at the airport in half an hour," Eyes puts in immediately.

"Airport? Bags?" Hiyono laughs, "How far away can Kanone run in two hours?"

Eyes cocks an eyebrow at her, replying sardonically: "You'd be surprised how many places he can find to hide in."


	2. Intersection the First

_Tangent to a Line_

- - -

I I **[** c h a p t e r . t w o **]** I I

- - -

moonmagicks

AU; Kanone's on the run because of a secret he can't bear to hear. Eyes gives chase. How the hell is Hiyono involved?

starring: Yuizaki Hiyono, Hilbert Kanone, Eyes Rutherford

- - -

Once, when he was a child, he had felt a thrill of adrenaline run through his veins because of the hunt, because of the chase. He had loved both of them; whether he was giving chase or being hunted down. There had been excitement and joy in the action.

Now?

Now there is a dull throbbing in his left arm. Kanone rubs it gingerly; it's just a surface wound from a severely-wounded Devil, it should be of no concern. The last time he checked, Hizumi was still alive and well. But that didn't mean that the Savers were going to be satisfied. They probably wanted reparations for inflicting such damage (he would almost be proud, except Hizumi is not dead) to the Devil.

Which is why he's running in the first place.

Well, not so much running as it is _hiding_, but he's certain that only Eyes will be able to tell the difference. With a cool gaze, his eyes sweep over the bustling airport terminal. His senses immediately detect certain discrepancies. A woman takes off her wedding ring only to slip her hand into the hand of a clearly-unmarried one. Children run up and down the escalators, unaware that there is a terrorist on the very same flight of stairs. A man is talking on his cellphone; his voice is going to slow for it to be a normal conversation.

The problem is not so much about apathy as it is about relaxing.

But then again, he knows all too well the second he relaxes, death will be knocking down his door.

He's not a good citizen (he's not going to report the terrorist, but it's not like it matters, it's obvious the bomb has been misset) by far, but he can sure as hell act like one depending on the situation. His cellphone rings and he pretends to answer it while clicking 'ignore' in reality.

"Hi-i-i!" he says cheerily over the phone. No one turns around to give him a second glance.

"Yeah, I'm in the airport right now. But I'll be boarding soon, so make sure not to ca-all, alright sweetie?" He waits for words that will most certainly not be there. He nods his head as the same, making a couple sounds to show his reluctantness to hang up. "Okay, I promise I'll call you when I arrive. By-ye!" Kanone plasters the smile on his face, snapping the cellphone shut and bracing himself.

Any second now.

Five...four...three...two...one...

**THWRUNKOOM**!

Red and fire fill his eyes (he's reminded of Hizumi, he's reminded of Hell) as he instinctively shields himself from the debris. An arm, a leg; children are bawling and women are running for cover. He sneers; it's the terrorist that has suffered the most from this unfortunate turn of events.

A siren sounds in the distance, and he knows that right now would be the best time to retreat as an ordinary citizen. He grabs the lightest bag (filled with food, a submachine gun, and a couple hundred rounds of ammunition) and runs towards the door, screaming bloody murder with all his might.

He's just an ordinary teenage boy, attempting to visit his girlfriend on the other side of Japan. He's just a poor victim of unfortunate circumstance, someone who won't be able to be with his loved one during the holiday season. The police will suck it up all too well, he knows.

While running, he hears the sound of the cellphone through his coat pocket. It's vibrating as well, and causing the embedded knives to clank around rather noisily. He doesn't stop to attempt to answer the call. He's already seen the previous caller, and there's really only a handful of people who know this number anyways. Eyes is bound to know what he's doing and why he's doing it. They are brothers, after all. What more of an explanation does he need to give?

"Duck for cover!" a policeman yells over the well-fitted terror and chaos.

Kanone does not need to be told twice.

He dives for the floor and rolls gracefully a couple yards away, safely missing the explosion's full radius.

A slightly-charred ticket flies through the afterbreeze. Absentmindedly, he catches it. A smirk graces his features as he reads the flight number and seating. This person, whomever they were, they were supposed to sit next to him.

Pity; the already-delayed flight is probably going to be pushed back even further.

But on a good note, his pursuers will also be delayed because of the inevitable traffic jam stemming from the inopportune bombing. It all plays out perfectly in the end.

"Come and catch me if you can...Eyes," he mutters aloud to the police. They look at one another, but shrug the statement off, deciding it to be a consequence of the stress coupled with the shock of a properly (hah! Kanone wishes he could correct them) detonated bomb.

They leave him be.

- - -

"Argh! What is wrong with the traffic?" Kirie growled, slamming her foot on the brake pedal for the second time in two miles. The four of them were in her car and going at the slug-slow rate of ten kilometers per hour. They had been trying to make it to the airport before their 9PM airway, but that looked to be impossible right now. Kirie grumbled something about how there was once a time when people could leave anytime and go anywhere with a private jet, but now there were airway allotments and even boarding times for the superduper rich.

Eyes snapped his cellphone shut. No one said anything; they knew.

"Narumi-otouto, use Ruth-kun's cellphone to call the airport; tell them we're in a roadblock and the airways needs to be cleared and delayed for us," Eyes punches in the numbers for the airport VIP registrar (normally, he would rather not, but this is about Kanone) and hands his cellphone to Ayumu. Reluctantly, the brunette puts the phone to his face, silently counting the rings.

One.

Two.

Three.

Fo--

"Hello? This is the Tokyo International Airport VIP suite, how may we be of service?" a friendly female voice chirps on the other end. Immediately, Ayumu's eyes narrow; she's a bit too cheerful and chirpy for the situation.

"Hi; we are in the middle of a traffic jam and we're probably going to be late for the allotted time slot for the private jet because a certain girl could not pack her things quickly enough..."

"Hey!" Hiyono interrupted righteously, "You are so mean, Narumi-san! I'm a civilized girl! I need my toothbrush and--"

"Anyways, could you stall all the flights for a short amount of time until we arrive?"

"I-I'm sorry sir," the attendant stuttered (obviously not used to such carelessness from a 'rich' person), "but all the terminals and runways have been temporarily shut down because of a bombing. The earliest any plane will be able to take off is tomorrow at 9AM,"

"Oh. Alright. Thank you very much," Ayumu disconnected the call and handed the phone to Eyes.

"Ah. So he's stabilized? Well, that's not much of a surprise," Kirie spoke into her phone, "Yeah, yeah, I'm sending Ruth-kun and that girl to the airport. No. Remember, we're not allowed to. We have to stay behind," a pause as a low voice muttered something on the other end, "Yes, alright. Thank you."

Another cellphone clicks shut in the small period of time. The honking of horns is in the background, and Kirie wastes no time in speeding to the front.

"What was that conversation about?" Ayumu asks.

"Why don't you tell us what the people at the Terminal said?" Kirie retorted.

"Aan; they just talked about someone detonating a bomb and having all the flights delayed until 9AM tomorrow," Ayumu mentions casually. Eyes takes the news with the same amount of shock; it is Kirie and Hiyono that widen their eyes and drop their jaws.

"A bombing?" Hiyono says incredulously (but there is another question beneath this one-a more important question).

"No, it shouldn't be Kanone Hilbert," Ayumu says, although the slight of uncertainty is detectable. Hiyono understands; Kanone trying to kill Hizumi (and coming so close to completely dismembering the boy) was completely out of Ayumu's calculations. Eyes stays silent. "So, Kirie-san; what did the Watcher on the other end say about Hizumi's condition?" Kirie twitches (but it's not as if she thought she could completely shake off Narumi-otouto). drawing his mouth into a thin line before replying with:

"Confidential information."

Hiyono laughs at this, reaching into her smaller bag to whip out the infamous pink!notebook.

Kirie narrows her eyes.

"Narumi-sa-an; I will trade you information regarding Hizumi in return for some more info on the bombing," she says cheerily, as if the information she knows isn't something people have killed for. Ayumu twitches (the girl always manages to get the better end of the deal--damn her!) but he concedes that knowing how Hizumi works is a bit more important than having Hiyono not know the details about the bombing.

"How did you get information about Hizumi and not about the bomb?" he asks rather off-handedly.

"Trade secret!" she says predictably, winking; Eyes raises an eyebrow (but says nothing).

"Okay, anyways, the bombing happened half an hour ago; all the terminals are shut down until 9AM tomorrow and no lfights will be allowed to leave. The reason for the traffic is probably because of the huge police force in the vicinity. Seeing as how there was an attendant in the VIP room, the bombing must've taken place as far away from the room as possible, say, the main corridor. The means that the bomber must've been a passenger," Ayumu deduces calmly as Eyes nods in approval and Hiyono scribbles down in the notebook furiously.

"Your part of the deal?" Ayumu asks.

"Girl; think about what you're doing!" Kirie interjects, only to have the car lurch forward in a sudden acceleration because there seems to be a gap in the traffic. Her two passengers in the back don't even blink, but Ayumu narrowly misses conking his head on the airbag.

"Well, a deal is a deal, Kirie-san," Hiyono replies, already flipping to the right page in the notebook.

"I have to ask then, how do you stay alive while gambling with all this information?" Ayumu smacks his forehead; he justs knows that this is the perfect moment for-

"That's my trade secret!" Hiyono replies (with the trademark grin), "Ah! Here's the right page!" she clears her throat before beginning (Kirie tries to tune the girl out, but she can't not listen [just to see if the information is correct, she thinks] so it fails) "Hizumi, possessing a remarkable genetic ability much like his older brother: he does not die because his body automatically chooses, or more correctly, abandons, whatever body part is malfunctioning. Meaning that if he is shot in the cranial region, his body will come to terms with him 'not needing' that region and fuction as if that region were never there."

Silence.

"Where the hell did you get this information?" Kirie asks just as sharply as the brakes squeal when they arrive in the correct terminal, "because it's completely and utterly wrong."

Hiyono's eyes narrow.

"My information is never wrong," (it is here and now that Kirie knows she has lost the bluff to this girl...) she shrugs and continues, "But it's up to you to believe me or not. But anyways, I have more on how his body doesn't function like the Blade Children; he regenerates based on a cell inside; the same cell that commands help and nutrients to be cut off from the 'useless' body part."

Ayumu doesn't know what else to say except for, "You...are so terrifying..."

Hiyono sticks her tongue out playfully (she has won-hah!) "And you are so mean!"

Eyes stays quiet-contemplating.

- - -

Dammit; somehow Kirie has managed to get them out of the traffic jam (with her inability to drive normally and all...) and they are inside the airport right now. Kanone's brow furrows; he didn't really want to have to steal a plane, but now he's left with no other choice in order to evade them.

He sighs; well, if he has to steal a plane, he might as well make it as inconvenient for them as possible.

The flight attendant is struck speechless by his charms (people normally are, he notices-all the better) and it's only when he's trying to get past the locked terminal gates via lock-picker that the starstruck lady realizes something is amiss.

"Sir, wait; all of the terminals are closed!" she hurries towards him, but it's okay; he's already successfully picked the lock.

"That's a private jet!" she exclaims as he gracelessly shoots the back door open.

"Bye-bye!" he exclaims with a cheery wave as he cracks into the security of the jet and takes off to the runway in what seems to be seconds.

Minutes later, many feet stomp up the stairs and Ayumu, Hiyono, Eyes, and Kirie begin pleading their case with the flight attendant. She looks a bit terrified at the sudden one-two punch, and Eyes is the first to realize that they are going to get nowhere fast like this.

"I need my jet. We need to go."

"I-I'm sorry sir," she stumbles, stutters, "B-But your jet was just hijacked a couple minutes ago..."


End file.
